How Oldham Youth Service have been engaging young people during pandemic

Since the beginning of lockdown, six months ago, the Oldham Council Youth Service has been working hard to engage with Oldham's young people. 

The team have been busy delivering amazing, interactive, summer sessions, with around 40 being delivered per week - which adds up to 495 sessions in total! 

They have supported various campaigns to support and protect young people including the Holiday Hunger programme and Safe 4 Summer campaign, promoting the dangers at reservoirs, canals and train lines. 

To thank all the key workers, including the NHS, Oldham Council staff and others who have supported people throughout the pandemic, they covered a song by popular artist Birdie called ‘People Helping People’ and recorded a video. 

The video was shared with key workers across Oldham and can be watched here...

The service have also produced ‘Our Oldham 2020’, a drama and film project where young people devised and created a film exploring the issue of Isolation, which can be viewed below...

To make sure Oldham’s young people knew where to go for mental health support during the pandemic, the team produced a third and final video sign posting people to the right services to get help. Watch ‘We Are All in This Together’ here... 

As part of their commitment they also launched a campaign ‘Wear it Well’, to encourage everyone to wear a mask and follow Government guidance. 

Staff in the team were redeployed to support the Covid response work, from leading community hubs, working in Foodbank, delivery of key supplies, to doorstep engagement work. 

Alongside all the work, they have been visiting vulnerable young people to check on wellbeing and carrying out welfare checks, as well as delivering activity packs to hundreds of people. 

Councillor Eddie Moores, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said: “The team have been amazing throughout the pandemic adapted quickly to enable the seamlessly and continued delivery of a youth work offer to Oldham’s young people. 

“What’s even more impressive is that they’ve been able to maintain the core delivery of the various parts of the service, including youth council, children in care council and barrier breakers.” 

“The service have shown their dedication to support young people to have a voice locally and help shape decision making in Oldham through regional and national platforms. 

Jodie Barber, Head of the Youth Service, said: "I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of our youth service and how hard our youth workers have worked throughout these challenging times – their dedication and commitment to carry on delivering our essential services to young people across the Oldham borough is a true demonstration of the Team Oldham Spirit.”

To find out more about the youth service and what they do to support our young people, you can email Oldham.youthservice@oldham.gov.uk